The Titan's Orb
by nipercrab
Summary: Callum lives a sad, depressive life in the human world... But that is soon to change as he meet some unexpected visitors that will change his life.
1. Chapter 1 - My Life

Chapter one

My Life

"Send me a text to let me know where you are!"

My mother shouts to me as I leave the house, she is so nervous about me going out, I'm fifteen for goodness sake.

"Yes mum!"

I called back as I close the door and walk away from the house.

My mother, where do I start? She is a violent, self-centred old woman with a _huge_ drinking problem.

It all started when my father left a few months ago, he was alright I suppose. He used to gamble a lot, but apart from that he was a pretty cool dad. My mum kicked him out when he lost a shed load of money in a game of poker, we haven't heard from him since. My mother shouts at me whenever I mention his name, so I try to stay quiet about the subject.

My brother is just as nasty, since dad left he's been trying to be the 'man of the house', and has been copying what my mother does. He bullies me a lot, he drinks spirits like vodka and whiskey in attempt to be what he calls a hard man. I think that if it weren't for My Little Pony, and my few friends on Skype who care, I might have followed the same path, being a brony has kept me going in this harsh life, it's like the light at the end of a tunnel, that small feeling of hope...

I crossed the road and walk over to the bus stop so I can get a ride to the nearby leisure centre. The bus takes forever to show up on Saturdays, so I began to daydream while I waited. I think about how great it would be to live in Equestria, a place where there is no hate or war, only love and harmony, somewhere where no one judges you for who you are. I'm more of a closet Brony now since everyone in my school judged me for it. I thought I could tell my best friend Harry about it because I trusted him; and what did he do? He went and told all the other guys and even the bloody teachers! Now there is a rumour going around the whole school that I'm a paedophile, a freak, a homosexual and all the other that haters like to call bronies, I'm fine with a few people know that I'm a Brony, but my _whole school_? _**Awkward!**_

Eventually the bus turns up; I get on and pay the fare, sit down and watch the world go by while I go back to dreaming about the nice life that I wish I had.

I get off outside the leisure centre and go inside, I pay to go swimming in the Olympic pool, and then I go to get changed. I love swimming, I feel free underwater, it's one of my favourite activities, alongside boxing.

After an hour or two of swimming lengths in the Olympic pool I decide to get out, get changed and leave. As I'm getting dressed, I overhear a couple of teenage girls in the cubicle next to me ranting on about an ex-boyfriend or something similar.

"He's such a fucking twat; if I had a knife I would stab him."

One says to the other, and the other replies, in an equally hostile tone,

"Yeah, he's such a dick, I'd like, _so_ kick his head in."

{Oh what a_ wonderful _world to live in}, I think to myself. People cannot just get along here, everywhere I go people are fighting. So much for Planet Earth's master race. I get changed and leave as fast as I can.

The bus home takes forever to turn up, so I just stare at the clouds as I wait, I love doing that. Just staring up at the beautiful white clumps in the sky, I used to do that with my dad in the summer. We'd just lay there in the garden, finding shapes in the clouds, I wish mum had never kicked him out, I miss him, a lot. I'm brought back into present day when I'm taken by surprise by an object moving behind one of the clouds, it was about the size of a small human, and it was light blue, after staring at the cloud for some time, I shrug my shoulders and guess it was just my imagination.

When I got home I found myself alone, my mother must have gone to work, meaning I'll be on my own until about seven o'clock tonight. I put some pot-noodle into the microwave, when the microwave pinged I took it out and then began to eat it in front of the TV.

As I was changing the channel, there was a loud _thud_ in my garden. One of the dogs, Chilli started to bark and had zoomed through the cat-flap before I had even stood up. The other dog, Archer raised his head, then went back to sleep, that's the best thing about Deerhounds, they do absolutely nothing if they don't have to. As I'm heading to the back door I hear a loud cracking noise, and a loud yelp. This was where I began to panic; I open the door, and sprinted into the garden calling my dog's name.

"Chilli, where are you? Chilli come here, here Chilli!"

At first there was no response, but then I heard a whimpering sound in the bushes. I run over to find Chilli shaking with fear, her paws covering her eyes; her whiskers were singed at the tips, as if set alight by a match or something, I had no idea how it was possible though. The chickens seemed to be pretty spooked as well, (I forgot to mention my mum owns chickens).

I took Chilli inside, and gave her the leftover sausage from last night's dinner (mum's going to kill me), and then give her some attention until she calms down. I then decide to go back outside to investigate.

I find nothing that suggests there was anyone in the garden; I had searched _all_ four acres. I looked up at the sky to find that it was getting dark, I looked at my watch, five PM already. I suddenly got the strange feeling that I was being watched. I looked around, I didn't see anything but it still felt like something was watching me. I went back inside and played on my Xbox, and try to forget about the whole thing, I let Chilli come into my room as well for some company.

Later on, my mum gets home; strait away she storms upstairs and into my room.

"Why the fuck is the dog on the bed?" She shouts, and grabs the dog by the collar and pulls her off the bed, then kicks her (literally) out of my room.

"Mum don't kick Chilli! She hasn't done anything-"

I am interrupted by her hand as it slaps me across the face.

"Don't answer back, cocky little boy." She says, and then leaves my room.

I didn't cry as one might expect, for I am use to this kind of abuse, it's become the normal. A fridge door slams and then I hear my mother's voice boom though the house from downstairs.

"_**Who took the sausage from last night?**_"

I swallowed; and one word ran through my head, {help}. I miserably walked downstairs to confess; for once I wish Applejack's honesty didn't have such an influence on me.

"It was me mum; something scared Chilli outside so I gave her the sausage to calm her down."

She smacks me again, harder than before.

"Well that's a load of bullshit, I was going to eat that you runt, go and make yourself useful for once and put the chickens to bed!" She shouts.

I walked out the back door, it slammed behind me and then I hear the lock click.

"Perfect, she locked me out." I mumbled to myself.

I go to the chicken coop, and close the door of the chicken's hutch. I was about to head back when I heard a voice from behind the shed further up the land. I couldn't make it out so I slowly crept over to the shed so I could hear.

"The poor guy, how can you treat another of your kind like that?"

The voice was female, and I recognised from somewhere, {where was it from?} I think to myself. I carry on listening, I hear another voice speak.

"I know, no one should treat one another like that."

I recognised the second voice as well, a third voice speaks.

"Twilight, was it really necessary to zap that little dog, I feel really bad for the poor thing."

That's when I realised who I was listening to, I couldn't believe my ears, I must have been dreaming surely, I keep listening to confirm what I was thinking.

"Unfortunately it was Fluttershy, if it kept barking at us the human might have found us."

{Oh, my, god}, I thought to myself. I was listening to the 'mane six', the actual six ponies from the show. It was _Twilight Sparkle_ what singed Chilli's whiskers, that's what spooked the chickens, and that's why I got that feeling of being watched earlier.

I almost dropped dead from pure amazement, {how is this possible? How is this _possible_?} I thought to myself over and over again. How could six cartoon ponies be talking behind my garden shed? I didn't make any sense, I started to feel nauseous, and I began to feel sick with a mixture of confusion and joy but most of all, fear.

I didn't know why I felt scared at this point, but it didn't last long though; for I was once again taken over by confusion.

"Twilight, how long are we going to be out here monitoring this dude? We've been camping here for a whole week already!"

"Keep it down Dashie, we're on another world in a different dimension, we can't take any chances. I want to learn about these humans as much as I can before I interact with them."

{They've been here for a whole week?} I thought to myself. This was too much to handle, I couldn't stay still for much longer, the urge to actually see them in front of me was so strong that I was shaking.

"Dimensions, worlds, aliens, this is all whizzing over my head Twi. I know you're worried and all. But Princess Celestia sent us to this area specifically, she said there is a human here who knows us, he can help us."

{Celestia sent them here because of _ME_?} I thought to myself, almost screaming it out loud. {How could she know me? Is this real life?}

I must have been on drugs or something, perhaps I'd gone mad, possibly driven insane by the desire to go to Equestria maybe. I pinch myself over and over to make sure I wasn't just dreaming.

I wasn't waking up, I wasn't having a dream, this was real.

"I know Applejack, that's why we're monitoring him from a distance with magic. I want to learn about him first, I haven't forgotten what Celestia told us when she gave us the mission."

"Then _why_, are we not talking to him now?"

Rainbow Dash's voice interrupted.

I was shaking all over. I couldn't believe that this was actually happening to me, I was desperate to jump out and say something, but I had to keep myself from doing so, I needed more information.

"Because Dashie-"

"Because nothing Twilight, you're so scared of new things. Come on, we've saved Equestria countless times from danger, like Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, Discord, and remember when you lifted that Ursa Minor out of Ponyville? There is nothing we can't overcome."

I shuddered, if only they knew what this world held, guns, war, murder, thugs, terrorists, oh the list is endless, but they wouldn't get into a situation with any of those things here in the countryside, I hope.

"I guess you're right, it's just that... Oh fine. We'll find a way of getting him out here alone and talk to him."

I couldn't take it anymore; I came out from around the shed to face them, to face a dream in reality.

"There's no need Twilight, I'm already out here."

All the ponies gasped and stared at me with shock, all of them had their mouths open as wide as physically possible. They said nothing; I noticed that they were all slowly backing away. I had to speak quickly before they ran away.

"Please don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you."

Twilight was the first one to speak.

"Um... How... how much of that did... Did you hear?"

She stuttered nervously. Her pupils had shrunk in size as they did in the show when ponies were afraid. I glanced at the others; they were all the same, except for Rainbow Dash, who seemed quite calm after getting over the shock.

They looked like... I can't describe it, they were just so real, yet they were just like from the show. Come to think of it, they looked a lot like the 'Three D' ponies in a game called Garry's Mod, just, more real...

"I didn't hear much, only something about you monitoring me or something." I said quickly but calmly.

I was so close to screaming with joy and running towards them, but I had to stay put. I had to find a way of showing them that I was harmless to them.

"I'm not sure how well you know me, but I promise that I am no threat to you, I Pinkie promise."

I notice the corners of Pinkie's lips begin to turn up into a little grin. I slowly knelt down to make myself look less threatening. I notice all the ponies seem to relax a little bit.

"You see Twilight, what I tell ya?"

Rainbow Dash walked towards me.

"Nothing to be afraid of."

I couldn't help ask the question that any brony would have asked.

"I hope I'm not being rude here but, are... Are you real?"

Dashie walked right up to me and held out her hoof and smiled.

"Really real."

I lifted my arm up to her level, I hesitated at first, but then I reached out and touched her hoof, it was real. I couldn't help bursting out with a _huge_ grin. {Holy shit, she's real. This is all _REAL!} _I thought to myself. The other ponies completely relaxed and came forward. All except Twilight, who still kept her distance. Rarity was the next to say something.

"We've been monitoring you for quite some time, but Twilight's magic can only gather so much information, please tell us more about yourself."

I didn't really know what to say, it's not like every day you get asked a question by_ Rarity!_ I had to say something though before it became awkward, so I used Spike's handy line from the very first episode.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

As I looked from pony to pony, I noticed a strange look in Rainbow Dash's eyes, I didn't know what she was feeling, but I could see that she was thinking about something serious, but what?

"Well, thanks to Twilight's magic," Rarity continued, "we've learnt that your name is Callum, and you are educated at a school like in Equestria, but that's about it really. How does human life work here?"

Before I could answer, a pink, hyperactive pony popped up right in front of me.

"Ooh, ooh, what do you eat here? Huh? Huh?"

I shuddered, how could I say meat? In front of Rarity, or Applejack, Dashie maybe. But in front of Fluttershy, I'd rather die than see her reaction to that, I needed a miracle, and to my luck, that miracle came. I hear the back door open, and a the dreaded voice shouts across the garden.

"_**Oi, where the fuck are you? I told you to put the chickens away, not go fucking camping!**_"

I looked at all the ponies, they all looked at me. They all knew that I would have to go, but I had an idea.

"Tomorrow I'm left on my own in the house, you can come in if you like, it'd be better than out here."

Twilight was about to refuse, when Pinkie Pie had one of her hyper fits.

"Ooh, I'd love to! I've always wanted to see an alien's house, what's it like in there? Is it all snugly wuggly with big furniture and a massive kitchen full of tasty food and..."

"Alright Pinkie, simmer down." Applejack gave her hyperactive friend a playful nudge, then she turned to me. "We'd love to come in, but is it safe with... her?"

She pointed her hoof towards my mother standing in the doorway back at the house, who was now slamming the door shut.

"She's off to play bingo all day, and my brother is at a friend's house, so it's just me. Trust me, it's safe. Plus I've got loads of books about humans and stuff for you Twilight, you can learn loads about this planet."

That's what got Twilight's attention, books. Lots and lots of book for lots and lots of learning, she couldn't refuse now.

"Oh fine, come out and call us when it's safe. Oh and while you're here, can I cast another monitoring spell on you? The last one was dispelled when your mother smacked you earlier."

The ponies all grimaced as Twilight mentioned my mum hitting me, Dashie came up to me with a sorrowful look on her face.

"How can she do that to you? How do you take it?"

I looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile to show her that I wasn't in any pain.

"Don't feel bad about it Dashie, it's fine. I've gotten used to it."

"That doesn't make it right though!" Applejack exclaimed.

Twilight closed her eyes, her horn began to glow, and I then felt a warm sensation run through my body.

{_**Holy shit, real magic!**_} I thought to myself, I still found it hard to believe that this was all real, this was insane, magic... Real sparkly, frazzle dazzle unicorn magic!

"I'd better be getting home before my mother gets even angrier." I said to Twilight.

I started to head back towards the house, when Twilight called to me.

"Are you sure it's safe for us to come to your house tomorrow?"

I rolled my eyes at how worried she was, she was worse than Fluttershy. I turned round and called back, and I even did the little gesture that came with it...

"I cross my heart and hope to fly, put a cupcake in my eye!"

I turned round again and walked to the house, I didn't need to see their faces to know they were all smiling...


	2. Chapter 2 - Unexpected Visitors

Chapter Two

Unexpected visitors

"And where have you been?" My mother says to me in a stern voice as I close the door behind me, by the looks of things she had been waiting the whole time.

"I was putting the chickens to bed, like you told me so."

"Then why were you taking so long?"

I had nothing to use as an excuse, my phone was upstairs so I couldn't use that.

"I, uh... saw, a fox! A really big fox going for the chickens. I was chasing it off."

She glared at me, it was like she knew I was lying, but she didn't know how to prove it. She opened her mouth to speak, but she had nothing to say, her breath stunk of alcohol, she eventually said something.

"Go to bed."

"It's only eight thirty."

And once again I find myself being slapped across the face.

"Don't answer back, cocky little boy." She mumbled as she walked off.

She really had a thing for calling me 'boy'. Even though I'm used to this now, I still found it hard to think that she can treat her own son like this. {Oh crap,} I thought to myself. {I hope that didn't dispel Twilight's magic.} I ran to the French windows, and spoke out loud.

"Twilight, if you can hear me, shine a light or something to let me know if your spell is still ok."

I'm relieved to see a purple glow at the back of the garden. I was amazed that the spell had actually worked in the first place, {magic}. The thought of the word made me wonder if this was real life again. How could it not be? I felt Dashie's hoof, it felt real enough to me. But how? That was the question that was bouncing around my head, how were they here in my world, and why me? There are thousands of bronies out there, what made me so special? {I guess Twilight will have the answers, I'll ask her tomorrow.} I thought to myself, I went upstairs and turned on my computer. {Better watch what I do on this, I have no idea of what they know about the show, or what Celestia has told them.} It felt strange knowing that the six were seeing everything that I was seeing, it felt even stranger to know they were in my garden!

After half an hour of playing an old game called Spore (I saw no harm in playing that if the ponies were watching), I got into bed, switched off the light, and closed my eyes, wondering about what tomorrow will bring, and if it could change my life more than I expected...

I woke up early the next day, to a loud banging noise coming from the room next to me, which was my brother's room, probably one of his workouts. I got out of bed, stretched, and got changed into some clean clothes, I didn't want Rarity to have an fit. As I headed for the door handle I noticed the banging in the room next to me had stopped, I opened my door and started to walk out when suddenly a hand came out of nowhere and slapped me across the face.

"Rise and shine dick wad."

My older brother's spotty face came around the corner with a grin as if he had won an Olympic medal. I didn't understand why he loved inflicting pain on me, or hurting people generally, he found it fun, like a game.

"You up early, you going over to a friend's or something? Oh wait, you don't have any friends"

He said with a grin.

"Actually you woke me up with all the banging and thumping in your room, what were you doing?" I asked.

"I was practicing my fighting moves, wanna be my punch bag?"

He clenched his fists and started to box the air then threw a punch only millimetres away from my nose, and my obvious reaction was to move my head backwards.

"Ha, you flinched! Two for you!"

He threw two incredibly powerful punches into my stomach, making me bend over in pain and almost throw up, he did this a lot and I have begun to get used to it, but it still hurt a lot.

"What did I ever do to you?" I said whilst trying to hold back a few tears.

"You were born." he said in a harsh tone, then noticed my eyes watering up.

"What, are you going to cry now like a little baby?"

I managed to fight back the tears, I sniffed and then looked him in the eye and asked as calmly as I could,

"So, when are you going to your friend's house?"

I could see that he was annoyed that I didn't cry, as making me do so was his favourite hobby, but fortunately he didn't try anything.

"In a few minutes, I'm getting the train. Why?"

"Just curious." I replied, I headed downstairs and poured myself some cereal, I sat down and begun to eat, when I was sure that my brother was still upstairs, I mumbled out loud.

"You still there Twilight?"

I looked out of the French windows to see Pinkie Pie's head pop out from round the shed, then vanish behind it again. I was beaming, I had never felt this kind of joy in all my life, not even on Christmas, yesterday it was like a dream, but now I knew for certain that I was awake.

"I'll take that as a yes." I said aloud.

I finished my cereal and put my bowl in the dishwasher, I then heard footsteps from upstairs, and then my brother shout.

"**Tally ho!**"

Then an earth shattering thud ripples through the house, my brother is always jumping down the stairs, even though my mother strictly tells him not to, and I think she heard him.

"**How many times have I told you about jumping down those fucking stairs?**" She shouts, then I hear her footsteps thud on the floor above.

"Well done Oliver," I say to my brother "now you've gone and pissed her off."

He smiled, it was an evil, sickly smile, as if he had just thought about a really good idea on how to kill somebody in a really horrible way. He looked at me and opened the front door.

"I know, and she's all yours, toodle pip!"

He jumped out the doorway, took a little bow, and slammed the door shut. I turned round to see my mother standing and a matter of centimetres away from me.

"What have I told you about jumping down the stairs?"

I nervously took a step back, the noise must have woken her up, because she was fuming, I knew what was going to happen.

"It was Oliver, I swear."

"Don't lie to me!" She yelled.

She strode towards me with her arm raised. As her hand came down I instinctively put my arm out to block the impact, she grabbed my wrist and with her other hand she whacked me on the side of the head.

"Get off me you crazy old woman!" I yelled back with my hand against my head.

I as I backed away she shoved me with both hands, I fell over and my head smacked against the wall, I cried out in pain as I hit the floor.

"Oh grow up you little wimp!" My mother shouted.

She sounded like she didn't care but as I looked her in the eyes from the floor I could see that she felt bad for what she'd done. Without saying a word she stormed upstairs. I got up, and headed into the kitchen to get an ice pack from the fridge to soothe the throbbing pain on my head. About a minute later my mother came back downstairs dressed in some casual clothes, instead of her dressing gown.

"I'm going to work, touch any of my drinks and you're out of the house for good."

And she wasn't bluffing, she'd done it before when I was twelve. I had poured all the wine down the sink because I couldn't cope with her drinking anymore. She beat me until I had bruises, then she kicked me into the garden all night long, I had to sleep in the shed. She's never apologised for doing it, and I don't think she ever will.

She opened the front door, and then slammed it shut. Home alone at last, finally I could let the ponies into the house, even though it was only last night when I saw them it seemed like it had been forever. I still wondered if I wasn't dreaming, or on drugs at least.

Even though I had felt Dashie's hoof, even though I felt Twilight's spell being cast upon me, and even though I just saw Pinkie's head peep around my garden shed, this still didn't feel like reality.

No doubt Twilight's spell broke when my head hit the wall, it was a hard knock. I rubbed the side of my head (which was still throbbing), to find a large lump had formed there. Although it was hurting like hell I managed to block off the pain, thanks to many years of abuse I had developed the skill to ignore pain very efficiently. I decided to go upstairs and gather some books that could be useful to Twilight, I also tidied my room a bit so Rarity wouldn't make a fuss. I went downstairs and into the garden, I was shaking with excitement, just thinking in a matter of seconds I'm going to see, and talk to, _the_ 'mane six', I stood in the middle of the garden and waved both my arms and called out.

"**It's all safe, you can come out now!**"

I guessed who would be the first to reveal themselves, and was right. Pinkie bounced out from behind the shed squeaking with joy.

"Oh oh, I can't _wait_ to see the inside of an alien's house! I'm so excited, are you excited? Oh my gosh I've never been so excited, well except for that one time when I ate a whole bag of sugar then jumped around the rooftops of Ponyville but this is still really really exciting!"

The next to emerge was Rainbow Dash, followed by Applejack, then Rarity. Fluttershy and Twilight nervously came out together, I could understand why Fluttershy would be nervous, that was her character, but something was up with Twilight, I could tell that she didn't trust me, which I could understand, but she seemed afraid, _really_ afraid, I could see it in her eyes. She looked like she had just seen her worst nightmare, something sinister, something _very _ bad, I was desperate to find out, I'd ask her later.

"Please make yourself at home," I smiled, "just make sure you wipe your hooves on the mat when you come in, just in case my mother sees any prints when she gets back tonight."

I said it in a jokey way, but I feared what would happen if my mum found _hoof prints_ in the house, I knew what would happen. First she'd go nuts, then she'd ask me how they got there, then I'd be forced to lie, and then she'd gut me alive. By the looks of things the ponies were thinking the same thing.

I headed to the back door, and opened it for the six ponies, I wanted to be a hospitable as I could so I stayed there and held the door open to be polite. As soon as Pinkie had entered the house she was whizzing back and forward from the lounge to the kitchen squeaking with delight, the others entered in the same order as before.

"Oh such a gentlecolt." Rarity said as she walked past, I laughed in a sympathetic way but I didn't correct her, I'd teach them all how humans said things later. Fluttershy looked at me cautiously as she went by, she didn't say anything nodded her head to say thanks, with time she'd become more relaxed.

"Thank you," Twilight began, at first I thought she had calmed down, until she continued, "listen here, you said that you are no threat to us, but I don't trust you ok? Anything bad happens and your to blame."

I could tell something was up with Twilight, even in the most extreme situations in the show she had never been that rude. I wanted to ask her what the matter was, but I knew that I was already on thin ice with her. I guess it will be the same situation with Fluttershy, it will take time to get her to realise she is safe. I had to keep it cool with Twilight, I don't want any hostility between us.

"Understood." I said calmly, I put on one of those 'I get it' faces so she could see that her message had got across, I headed into the kitchen where the other ponies were patiently waiting.

"You've been out there a long time, you must be hungry. What can I get for you all?"

Pinkie started jumping up and down and asked with an ear piercing volume.

"Oh, food! Food! Do you have any cupcakes?"

Funny enough, I had some chocolate cake in the fridge, I had bought it with my own money as well so my mother wouldn't go ballistic.

"I don't have any cupcakes, but will chocolate cake do?"

She squealed and jumped up and down with the biggest smile on her face.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh you have _**cake!**_Yes yes yes!"

Applejack rested her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder and calmed her down, then she turned to me.

"Do you have vegetables at all sugar cube?"

I opened the fridge and took out some carrots and some lettuce.

"Will these do?"

"Why, they'll do fine sugar cube."

I smiled at being called Applejack's favourite pet name, 'sugar cube'. I chopped up enough carrots and lettuce to make a salad that would feed the five of them, while Pinkie was happy with cake. I invited them upstairs and into my room so I could ask why they were here, and why Celestia had sent them to me. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were happy sitting on the floor, while the others sat on my bed, I picked up all the books that I had gathered in the corner and handed them to Twilight. I went to my chair by the computer desk and sat down, I decided to be the one to ask the first question.

"This has been bothering me for a while, and I think now's a good time to ask. Why are you all here?"

I wasn't surprised that Twilight didn't answer, as she had her head stuck in 'Human Anatomy'.

"Well, um..." Fluttershy began, "Not too long ago something very important from our world came here by mistake, and we're here to get it back."

The ponies seemed as confused as I was, it seemed they didn't really know anything about what they were here for, until Twilight had finished her first book and looked up.

"Well, something happened about two months ago now, where we had to come to this world before, and in the process a portal opened up, between here and Equestria. And something very precious went through it, it was made by the Titans. Long ago, before Princess Celestia was born-"

"Hang on a second," I interrupted, "did you just say you've been here before?"

Twilight, looked at the floor, thinking hard.

"Well, Princess Celestia said we were here once for an hour or so, then we came back. She removed the memory from our minds. She said she didn't want us to remember."

{Oh, fuck} I thought to myself. I remember yesterday when Rainbow Dash had that look on her face, that something was bothering her. I shivered, I had a feeling of why they were here before.

"It's strange, I keep getting that feeling like I've been here before, it's like Déjà vu." Rainbow Dash said as she looked around my room, "I just feel so used to all this human stuff, it's like I've been living in a human house for years."

The cyan pony looked at me, and I could see the whole story there in her mind, but she didn't remember it. All of it, gone from her mind, a tear formed in my eye, as it always did when I read 'My Little Dashie' by Rob Cakeran, but now I knew that it was real, how could a fan-fiction be real? . I began to feel dizzy, and I felt like I was going to be sick.

"You ok sugar cube? You're going pale." Applejack said.

I came back to my senses, I sighed, and blinked away the tear before any of them noticed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Please Twilight, go on, long ago before Celestia was born?"

"Yes," she continued, "There were six titans, the titans of harmony. It was the titans who created Our world and Equestria. Twilus, the Titan of Magic created Princess Celestia and Princess Luna when the Titan of Honesty called Appelox, became corrupted. Twilus sealed off our world with an orb, this orb created a field around our planet that prevented other dimensions coming into contact with ours, to protect it from evil."

As I was processing this, I looked at the six ponies, studying them. I still didn't understand why Celestia had sent them to me, I wish I could ask her directly. To see the goddess horse in person, I'd do anything to have such an honour. That's when the thought hit me, what if I could go back to Equestria with the six? Then I remembered what Celestia had said in My Little Dashie.

'He cannot join you in our world much like how you cannot stay in his.'

They have come here to retrieve something, and go home. Even if I can't go to Equestria with them, I would still help them, it would allow me to get away from my so-called family.

"So, I'm guessing you want my help finding it?" I asked.

"Pretty much." Twilight replied, who had her head into yet another book.

As I looked from pony to pony, I noticed that Rarity was staring at my shoes with a look of confusion. After staring at them for a good thirty seconds, she looked up and asked me what they were.

"I do hope you don't mind me asking, but what are those things attached to your hooves?"

I laughed in a friendly manner, I still needed to teach them about the difference between humans and ponies. But before I could answer, Twilight spoke.

"They are called shoes, and he doesn't have hooves, humans have feet."

It began to bug me that Twilight was so on edge, the question is why is she acting so rude? I had to get to the bottom of this, and soon. But for now I had to act as polite as possible to gain her trust.

"So, is there anything you six want to know about humans? Those books leave out quite a lot."

Rarity was the first to ask something, she seemed to be more inquisitive about this world than the others.

"What kind of education do you have here?"

And so I explained to them how school works in England, I explained about all the subjects such as maths, science and so on. I noticed that Twilight wasn't reading anymore, she was listening to me instead.

"Anything you'd like to know at all Twilight?" I asked.

"No, these books will do."

All the others stared in awe at how rude their friend was being, Twilight looked around and noticed how her friends were all looking at her.

"Thank you for the offer."

She put on a fake smile, then went back to her books. The other ponies looked back to me, waiting to see my reaction to Twilight's rudeness, I didn't want any conflict between us so I simply ignored her attitude.

"Alright then, anyone else?"

The ponies all looked at one another, it seemed that they couldn't think of any questions to ask, so I thought I'd ask one myself.

"How are we going to find this orb?"

"It's not so simple," Twilight replied, "when it entered your world, it broke into six pieces and was scattered around the planet. That's why Princess Celestia sent us to you, she thought that you could help us navigate around and to keep us from danger."

"Across the whole planet?" I said in disbelief, Twilight simply nodded.

When it came to answering a serious question, Twilight seemed to be quite relaxed and not as touchy as before. I had to talk to her alone and find out why she was acting so tense, perhaps after we set off to find the orb.

"So, when do we set off?" I asked.

"Whenever you're ready I s'pose." Applejack replied.

That made me think, {I could just leave, I could go right now across the world and get away from here.} Thinking about it made me shiver with excitement, but I couldn't just leave. No matter how horrible my family were I didn't want them to constantly worry about where I had gone.

"What about my family?" I asked.

Rainbow Dash's jaw nearly hit the floor, she stared at me with disbelief.

"Seriously? Look at how they treat you, the six of us have all seen it. We've seen how your mother treats you, and the way your brother hits you, it was only this morning when she shoved your head into a wall!"

Now that Rainbow Dash had brought it into mind, the bump on my head started throbbing again. Rarity noticed as I went to rub the pulsating lump.

"Darling, that looks really sore. Let me take a look at that."

She said in a sympathetic voice, she got up and came towards me.

"It's fine, really." I said.

I didn't want Rarity to make a fuss about it. But from the moment she got up off my bed I knew I had no choice in the matter.

"Nonsense, I can clearly see that you're in pain, now come here."

She went over my head with a hoof, as it touched the lump a searing pain pulsated through my head, I flinched, Rarity gasped as she saw it. The other ponies looked as well.

"How do you still care about them?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Rainbow," Applejack spoke up, "this is his family you're talking about here. He loves them no matter how nasty they can be. I can understand why you wouldn't want them worrying about you, right sugar cube?"

I nodded, I couldn't stand my family, but I didn't want them living their entire lives wondering where I had disappeared to.

"So what? You're going to tell them you're going on an adventure or something?" Dashie said.

That's when a crazy idea popped up in my head.

"I'm not sure... I guess we could fake my death or something." I suggested.

Fluttershy whimpered at the word death and buried her head into her hooves, Pinkie's mane straightened out like in the episode 'party of one', and Twilight's book hit the ground. The ponies were clearly touched by the word, but if they are going to travel around this planet with me, they would have to get used to it. After a minute of awkward silence and the ponies looking at one another, Applejack spoke up.

"Sugar cube-" her eyes began to water up, "-are you sure you want to do that?"

I nodded.

She blinked away the tears hoping that I hadn't seen them, which I had. Something had hit her hard when I said 'death', whatever it was it was hurting her.

"But," she said, "how will they feel if they find out that you're d-"

I put my hand on the orange mare's shoulder.

"Applejack, it's for the best, I'd rather they know I'm dead and move on, than them worry about where I am and if I'm ok or not. This is the right thing to do."

She sniffed.

"Ok... If that's what you have to do. Then do it..."

She was hurting, I could see it in her eyes.

"Are you ok Applejack?" I said.

"Yeah, it's fine." She wiped her eyes.

Looking at her now I can see that whatever was hurting her, it's hurting her badly, I need to change the subject, and fast.

"So, what do you all want to do now? You all seem quite bored to me."

That's when Twilight finally spoke without such a moody attitude.

"Could we watch a 'Three, D' movie? I just read up on them, about how humans can make movies with computer generated models and pictures."

"That sounds amazing!" Pinkie yelled.

Rainbow Dash joined in, "Yeah, that seems pretty cool."

The other ponies nodded in agreement, so I searched through my collection of films for a decent one to watch, keeping in mind that I would have to make a boundary for the content, I didn't want to expose Fluttershy and Pinkie to anything too violent or gory.

So I just had to sit through Kung Fu panda, which wasn't really up to Rainbow Dash's standards. She found it funny in places with the humour, but the slow parts and the storyline seemed to bore her. Even Fluttershy was sitting at the edge of my bed immersed by all the fight scenes, I was expecting her to hide under the pillow at all the violent parts. Perhaps I underestimated the ponies' maturity. Although, on the other hand Pinkie loved the film to bits.

"I think that was AWESOME!" Pinkie yelled.

"It was alright, but there should have been more action." Dashie said.

"Well I think it was perfect!" Pinkie screamed.

The two were left playfully arguing over how the film was, while Twilight came up to me, she looked angry, but also afraid.

"Can we talk in private for a second?" She asked.

"Sure!" I replied, something was clearly on her mind.

We walked out of my room, I quickly stuck my head back round the door to tell the other ponies that I'd only be a few seconds. I lead Twilight into the spare room, where I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the purple unicorn.

"What's up Twilight?"

She sat down and looked me in the eye.

"Do you want to know why I'm on edge? Do you want to know why I'm not acting as cheerful as you thought I would be?"

She answered before I could even open my mouth.

"I'm afraid," she said, "I'm really afraid... Princess Celestia warned me of this world, I know what it holds. I know how much danger we are heading into, and I know what's going to happen if we fail this mission."

I know she's right, but I'm not going to stand there and tell her that it's hopeless, I have to comfort her.

"It's ok Twilight-"

"NO IT'S NOT OK!" She yelled, "OUR LIVES ARE AT STAKE HERE!"

I had to shut her up before the others got worried. I tried a different approach.

"Shut up Twilight! Are you trying to demoralize the others? I'm not going to lie to you, it is dangerous, it is risky, but let me tell you this. If any danger comes to you, it's got to get through _me_ first. I will die for your safety if that's what it takes do you understand? I would _die_ for you six. Now get it together, I understand how you feel. But whether you like it or not the only way you're going to get through this is to trust me."

In spite of how stressed she was, she was completely taken aback from my sudden change in attitude.

"Now that you're here, your safety is all that matters to me," I continued, "and I'll give _everything_  
I have to give to ensure that you are all safe. No doubt your shouting has put the others on edge, so you need to pull yourself together and show them that everything is fine, and that there is _nothing_ wrong. Ok?"

She was speechless for a few seconds, I could tell that my outburst caught her off guard.

"I'm just so afraid..."

I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"I know Twilight, I know... But you've got to trust me, I will protect you."

She glared at me, something had clicked in her. With her hoof she pushed my hand off.

"I don't trust you, Princess Celestia has told me of your kind, she has told me how evil your species can be. No matter how nice you are to me, I am not trusting you. And I never will, you are nothing but our guide, we are not friends."

The spare room door opened, and Applejack's head popped around the corner.

"Everythin' alright in here sugar cube?"

I gave Twilight a very quick glare, too fast for Applejack to notice. she looked at Applejack with a smile.

"Yes Applejack, everything's fine." She said.

Applejack looked at me with a concerned expression, as if she didn't believe Twilight.

"Everything's absolutely fine," I said with a smile, "I hope the five of you aren't too bored in there."

"Nah, we're all reading those books of yours, they're really interesting, they tell so much about your kind, you humans sure are somethin'..." She replied.

"Yeah, they sure are something." Twilight said, and I knew what she meant.

I had no idea what Princess Celestia has told Twilight, but my guess is that she's taught her about the world wars, terrorism, murder, and most, if not all of the other atrocities that exist in this world.

A jolt of fear ran through me, I had a book about food somewhere in my collection, what if the others found it? If they found out that humans were omnivores and not herbivores, who knows how they'd react...

"Alrighty then," I said, jumping to my feet, "books can be fun, but they don't entertain forever. Let's find something more active to do."

I hurried out of the spare room and into mine. As I enter my room I'm greeted by the smiles of the other ponies. I couldn't help but just grin with them, just walking into a room to see these characters from my favourite T.V show made me feel so warm, and happy inside. It truly was a dream come true. By the looks of things they hadn't found the book. I sighed a breath of relief, only to inhale in a huge lungful of surprise when Pinkie jumped in front of me, her nose no more than a centimetre away from mine.

"Are there any games we can play? I'm bored of books now, let's do something else, what games do humans play? Do you have any more cake? Anyway what games can we play? I bet you have loads and loads__of fun games. Can we play a game huh? Huh? Can we? Can we?"

I didn't really know how to respond, I had no idea what game I should choose, these days the games I play involve holding a controller and looking at a screen. Sport wise I play basketball and rugby, and occasionally boxing, and I don't think any of those would suit their fancy.

"Sure! Do you have any idea on what you would like to play?"

The hyperactive pony stopped and froze like a block of ice, she didn't even appear to be breathing, she was completely motionless. I nervously looked at Applejack with a look of confusion. She laughed.

"She's thinkin' sugar cube, that's all."

Before anything could be said, the pink pony started vibrating, she then jumped into the air, her head hit the ceiling, then she landed of the floor with the look of a teenager when receiving a new games console.

"I have an idea!" She screamed, "Let's play hide and seek!"

I looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, I had a feeling that they'd be a bit too for it. Dashie groaned a bit and Applejack rolled her eyes and gave a look as if to say "let's get this over with."

"Is that what everybody wants to play?" I asked.

"Everybody?" Rarity asked, "Surely you mean everypony?"

I smiled and took a few minutes teaching the six the verbal differences between humans and ponies, such as everypony to everybody, hooves to hands, stallions to men, mares to women, and so on. The ponies were amazed by the small but significant changes in the language. I was almost finished explaining when Pinkie randomly started to jump up and down.

"Hey, we haven't played hide and seek yet!"

We all decided to go and play it just to get outdoors and to keep Pinkie entertained. And like all games, it became quite fun once we all got into it, besides Twilight, who sat by the shed reading a book.

"Let's set Callum a challenge!" Pinkie yelled, "All five of us are the finders, Callum hides!"

"Make it fair though," I said, "no magic."

The ponies all agreed, and all covered their eyes and started to count, now, if they were going to challenge me, then I'd challenge them back, I ran over to the ironwood tree in the garden, and climbed to the very top.

"Twenty one! Twenty two!" Rainbow Dash called.

I loved being up in this tree, you could get a whole view of the garden. The wonders of nature contained so much when you really look, when you just sit back and observe every little detail.

"Twenty three! Twenty four!" Applejack shouted.

I looked at the house, I suddenly started feeling a bit homesick, I realised that I'd never come back here again, I'd be leaving my school, my computer, my best friends on Skype, and my beloved dog Mollie.

"Twenty five! Twenty six!" Rarity yelled.

I looked down at the ponies as they counted, the previous feeling washed away, to travel with the 'mane six', to help save Equestria, it was worth it.

"Twenty seven! Twenty eight!" Fluttershy squeaked.

Everything I have in life could never be half as good as this opportunity to go somewhere else, to be someone else, and to think, if I help the ponies to succeed, I would be seen as a hero, like in the movies, the hero who saved the world. Who wouldn't take the chance for that title?

"Twenty nine! **THIRTY**!" Pinkie Pie screamed at the top of her lungs.

All six ponies scattered across the garden searching for me, while I sat there in the tree watching them.

A nice breeze of wind blew against my face, I took in a large breath of air and for the first time, I felt happy. Like, truly happy.

I feel happy when I get a new games console for my birthday, or when I first saw the six behind my shed. But this was a whole new type of happy, I felt it deep inside me, I felt happy as a person, like I had found a purpose in life, it was wonderful.

In the middle of this feeling I suddenly felt a hard, smooth object gently nudge my arm.

"Umm, excuse me, I found you."

I turned round to see Fluttershy sitting on the same branch as I, the initial surprise of her being there with no warning nearly made me fall out of the tree.

"How did you find me?" I asked.

"With my eyes..." She replied with her tongue sticking out.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing, I had never expected in a million years for Fluttershy to give such a comical reply.

"It's nice up here isn't it?" I asked.

"It's wonderful," she replied, "trees are beautiful, and you can get a wonderful view from the top. I'd quite like to be a tree..."

I giggled as she said the same quote from the show, it had seemed that Fluttershy had warmed to me, she had totally relaxed and was all happy, next step, Twilight.

"Well," I said, "let's go and tell the others you found me."

Fluttershy slowly climbed down using her wings for support, while I simply jumped. As I hit the floor I did a roll so I didn't hurt anything. I stood up to see Rainbow Dash staring at me with awe.

"Did you just jump from up there?" She asked.

I nodded, I didn't really want to show off about it, I had been taught parkour by my father, he always told me to take the fastest route, if there is an obstacle in the way, overcome it.

"Ooh, my, I would never dream of jumping from up there." Fluttershy said.

"Why not? You have wings!" Dashie asked.

I interrupted, after seeing Cutie Mark Chronicles and Hurricane Fluttershy, I knew she was sensitive about her wings.

"So where are the others?" I asked.

"They're still looking for you I think." Rainbow Dash replied.

"I'll go look for them." Fluttershy squeaked.

I couldn't help but smile at Fluttershy's voice, it was just so adorable. When I hear it in the show, I get a feeling of joy and security, but hearing it in real life, it was the same feeling multiplied at least a thousand times.

Fluttershy trotted away as silent as a mouse, leaving me and Rainbow Dash alone.

"Rainbow Dash?" I asked, the blue mare turned to face me.

"What is up with Twilight?" I asked, "I understand she's nervous of being here, but I don't think she's telling the whole story. Do you know why she's being like this?"

Rainbow Dash sighed.

"I don't know, she's been acting like this before she came here, it was just after Princess Celestia gave us this mission. She had a private talk with Twilight just after, since then she's been really rude and always on edge."

So, whatever was getting too Twilight had something to do with Celestia. I'd have to get her to spill the beans, and I'd need the help of the others to do so.

"What do you think she said?" I asked.

She only shrugged, she was about to say more when the others came along.

"Where were you? We were searching everywhere!" Applejack exclaimed.

Before I could answer, Fluttershy proudly pointed to the top of the ironwood tree.

"I found him up there." She happily stated, she was delighted, I guessed she rarely won these sort of games.

"Nice one sugar cube!"

Applejack playfully got the yellow mare into a gentle headlock and ruffled her mane. We were all laughing and giggling until Twilight came along.

"Playtime over, can we get going to find the orb now."

The others were speechless, and so was I, she's really pushing it now. Her behaviour was bang out of order, and it seemed Rainbow Dash thought the same.

"That's it! I've had enough of this Twilight! I don't give a flying feather what Princess Celestia told you, I am sick of you being so rude!"

Twilight glared at Dashie, she was livid.

"You have no idea what you are going into! Do you understand that you could _die_ here and never go home? Our lives are at stake and all you care about is fun and games!"

I looked to Pinkie and Fluttershy, they both seemed terrified, Fluttershy tried to hide under her hooves.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight now were glaring into each other's eyes, their noses no more than a few centimetres apart.

"Just shut up Twilight! You're always so serious and up tight, I could deal with it before, but your being a rude, immature snob!''

Twilight crouched as if she were about to strike her friend, I feared a fight was going to break out if I didn't intervene, I rushed forward and stood between the two of them.

"**That's enough!**" I shouted, "I'm not having you get into any fights over these small little arguments! Twilight's right, you are here on a mission, and I am your guide. Tomorrow we will try to pinpoint the first part of the orb, then we find a way to fake my death, then we shall set off. Now will you two calm down? I don't want anymore more hostility."

All the ponies were speechless, I don't think any of them were expecting me to shout. Even Twilight was taken aback. Poor Fluttershy was shaking in fear.

Twilight stormed off to the makeshift camp the six had been staying in since they first came here, I took a long sigh. Applejack walked next to me.

"You've done nothin' wrong Callum, I'm not sure what the Princess has told her, but it's gone straight to that mare's head. I'll go calm her down, take the others inside, I'll be along in a bit."

She walked past me and trotted over to the end of garden to meet Twilight. The others stood still, unsure of what to do. I looked at Fluttershy, who was still upset, I walked over to her, and knelt down beside her.

"Hey," I said in a calm gentle tone, "it's ok Fluttershy, it's ok."

She looked up at me, she was shaking.

"Tw-Twilight said we're going to die!" She squeaked.

I placed my hand on the terrified pony's mane, I gently stroked it. I reassured her in a soothing tone.

"Twilight's wrong, she is afraid like you, and because she is afraid she is coming up with the worst outcome, Fluttershy I will protect you, I will protect _all_ of you from whatever danger meets us, no harm will come to you, do you understand?"

I never thought that I was good with words, but whatever I said it had done the trick, the yellow pony lifted her head and stopped shaking.

"Ok... I trust you..." She quietly spoke.

I didn't expect Fluttershy to trust me that quickly, I thought it'd take days, I looked at the others, Pinkie seemed to have calmed down too, Rarity was smiling, while Rainbow Dash was absolutely beaming.

"What?" I asked, I couldn't help but smile back at that adorable face.

"Well," she giggled, "it's just that Fluttershy's never warmed to anyone that fast before, well besides some colt she met ages ago, but still I didn't expect her to get so close that fast."

As Dashie mentioned "some colt", I noticed that Fluttershy blushed and hid under her hooves again.

Fluttershy, a coltfriend? Surely not, I highly doubted that Fluttershy had those kind of feelings, but it's possible I guess... That's another mystery with the six I need to solve, along with Twilight's stress problem.

"Can we go back inside now?" Pinkie piped up.

"Yeah," I replied, "we need to discuss plans for our journey."

I headed towards the house, the others followed.

{What is up with Twilight? What has Celestia said to her?} I kept thinking to myself as I walked, Twilight is clearly the leader of this quest, I needed her trust, but how could I get it with her behaving like this? I'd have to do something pretty spectacular.

I opened the back door, and just like before, I held it open for everypony. As the others walked past I noticed Applejack appearing from behind the shed, hopefully she's managed to calm Twilight down.

"You four head upstairs, I'm going to wait for AJ."

The others did so, Applejack noticed that I was waiting for her and went from a slow walk into a trot, she went pretty fast for a pony. Then again they were all much bigger than ponies on Earth, they stood at about chest height, so they were all about five foot tall. So it made sense that she'd go faster than an pony from this planet.

"Y'all right sugar cube?" She asked.

"I'm fine thanks Applejack," I replied, "how's Twilight?"

The orange mare sighed.

"She's blowin' steam over there, I don't know what's gotten into her head, but it's sunk in deep."

"Is she coming over here anytime soon?" I asked, "We need to plan out this whole thing and I think she should be here for it."

She nodded, turned around, and began to head back to the shed.

"Wait," I said, "go indoors, I'll talk to her."

She turned around, her mouth wide open.

"You're kiddin' right?"

I shook my head, I was serious. I had an idea of what I was going to say to Twilight.

"It's your funeral sugar cube..." Applejack sighed, she went into the house and disappeared out of sight.

{Right, time to enter the beast's cage} I thought to myself, I wasn't sure whether to smile or to frown at that. I headed over to the shed, at first, it looked like there was no makeshift camp, then I noticed a glowing little ball attached to the shed wall, no bigger than a peanut, out of curiosity I poked it.

As my finger touched the small, gem-like object, three tents and a campfire seemed to materialise out of nowhere, it was amazing, it was like something you'd see in a sci-fi movie.

The camp had been really well set up, the tents were all perfectly stitched, and above each tent there was a water shelter. The camp fire, was perfectly built, with stones all around it to make sure the fire didn't spread, the fire was still burning, even though there was no wood in the pit, I guessed that it was magic. The whole camp was built to perfection, these ponies knew what they were doing when it came to camping, I was impressed.

Although I was fascinated by the camp, I was distracted by a strange sniffing noise, it took me a good ten seconds to realise what it was, it was the sound of crying. I peered inside one of the tents, to find Twilight sitting there with her back to the entrance, loudly sniffing.

"Twilight, are you ok?" I asked.

"Go away..." She sniffed.

Obviously I didn't, no matter of how much of a bitch she was currently being, I wouldn't have any pony upset if I could help it, even if it _was_ Twilight.

"Twilight, tell me what's wrong."

"I said go away..." She sniffed again.

I knelt outside the tent, reached in and put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her, bad move. Before I could see it coming she whipped round and punched me right in the mouth. I fell back and lay there in disbelief, holy shit she could punch hard, my lips felt like they were burning, and I could taste blood on my tongue.

"**I said go away!**" She yelled.

I sat up and wiped the blood off my lip. This was going way overboard now.

"I don't think I deserved that," I said calmly, "not one bit, that wasn't very nice you know?"

She seemed to be taken aback by my state of calmness after being hit, I guess I can thank my brother for that, his hobby of constantly hitting me can have its uses now and then.

"Twilight, I can see that a lot of stress has been put on to you," I continued, "I can help, but you have to tell me what Celestia said to you, nothing is going to be resolved until I know exactly what the matter is."

"How d-do you know that the Princess talked to m-me?" She stuttered as she recovered from her crying.

I shrugged before I replied, she must have thought no one knew about it or something.

"It's no big secret Twilight, after she gave you the mission she spoke with you privately, what did she say?"

"The others told you didn't they?" She asked.

I simply nodded. At this, she began to glare at me.

"It's none of your business, all six of you. It is between me and her!"

Although it was my _business_, as it was affecting her attitude towards me and everyone else, I didn't want to push it, I needed her to come inside the house to help make a plan.

"Suit yourself Twilight, tell me what it is or just keep feeling worse and worse, I'll leave it for you to decide. But for now we need you in the house, we are making plans on how we're going to do this thing." I said.

I stood up and walked out the camp, if there was one thing I knew about Twilight, it was that she could not stand being alone if there were no books around. As I headed towards the house I heard the tent zip up, the sound of the camp fizzing into nothingness, and then the sound of hoofsteps following me.

After that argument that had just happened, after her little episode, heck even after she had hit me in the face! There was something about her, even when she was being a total bitch...

I don't know why but, I couldn't help but smile, just a little...


	3. Chapter 3 - Dying To Be Free, Literally

Chapter Three

Dying to be free, literally.

"Hey Callum," Rainbow Dash said as I entered the room, "Rarity's come up with some sort of plan."

"Brilliant," I replied, "let's hear it."

Before Rarity could speak, Applejack walked next to me and squinted at my face.

"Sugar cube, what happened to your chin?"

At this, Rarity looked at my chin, and then she saw the cut on my lip along with the bruise that had formed. She gasped, and then quite literally sprinted at me, knocking Applejack out of the way.

"Darling, that looks really painful, how did this happen to you?"

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, and I knew straight away that she was going to accuse Twilight, and even though she would be right, I didn't want to cause rivalries between the two of them.

"I tripped over and hit my head on the way back from talking to Twilight." I blurted out.

Rainbow Dash frowned at me, giving me a look that said, 'I know you're lying'. She was about to say something when Twilight walked in. As she did so, Rarity turned to face her.

"Look at his face, just look at it..."

Twilight glared at me for a second, she must have assumed that I had gone and grassed her up. Luckily Rarity finished her sentence.

"You must have hit something pretty hard when you fell over, it's really bad."

Twilight looked at me and raised an eyebrow; I guess she wasn't expecting me to cover for her after she had been so nasty. I winked at her, and for the first time in a while, I saw the corners of her lips raise, just a little, it wasn't much, but it was definitely a start.

"Yeah," She said, "it does look pretty bad..."

I then noticed an expression on her face, it was the same look I saw on my mother this morning, she felt bad for hitting me. But, just like my mother, the expression only lasted for a second.

"Well I guess you should have watched where you were going."

She was pushing it and she knew it... It was as if she was _trying_ to get me to flip out or something, the others were once again shocked, but kept quiet, even Rainbow Dash, who looked like she was going to explode, remained silent.

"Right," I said, "I recall that you had a plan Rarity?"

The white unicorn backed away from caressing my face and sat on the floor.

"Ah, yes," she started in her posh manner, flicking her perfectly curled mane aside with glamour, I couldn't help but smile, even on another planet she managed to retain her style.

"Well, you see. Princess Celestia managed to obtain some of the essence from the Titan's Orb before it was separated from our world, and she allowed Twilight to absorb some of it into her horn, so now, Twilight can use a spell that will point towards the direction of the orb."

I looked at Twilight, then back to Rarity. They could have mentioned that earlier...

"Well that makes things a _lot_ less complicated." I said.

"That it does," Rarity continued, "Not only that, but when Twilight is within a mile from a fragment of the orb, her horn will start to shine blue, instead of purple, so we'll know if we are close. So all we need to do is have Twilight use the spell and we can head off right away."

The others nodded, it was a pretty good plan.

"Well, that's going to make this mission easier by a long shot," I said, "but now we need to take care of the dark matter of faking my death... How can we do that?"

Now I thought this would take forever to plan out, until Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere and blew my mind.

"That's easy peasy, one two threesy! All you need is Twilight to use her cloning spell and make it look all dead-like and make it out as if it was your body!"

I was gobsmacked, I was literally speechless for a good ten seconds. Pinkie Pie, out of all ponies, it seemed she always had really good ideas but only shared them when she felt like it.

"Pinkie," I said, still amazed, "You're a genius!"

"No I'm not, I'm a pony!" She giggled.

Every pony in the room laughed, besides Twilight, who still smirked, but only briefly. She stood up and her horn began to glow.

"Would you like a demonstration of the spell?" She asked.

"By all means, fire away!" I replied.

Her horn glowed even brighter, I then saw a thin stream of purple light coming out of my chest, it wasn't painful, it didn't hurt in the slightest, it just felt really warm, it was the strangest sensation.  
The light escaping from my chest was gathering into a purple ball of light in front of me, and it got bigger and bigger, it was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen in my life, I'd seen Twilight use her magic before when she used the monitoring spell on me, but I hadn't seen magic on this scale, it was mesmerizing...

The ball of light then began to stretch out, it twisted and turned and I then noticed that I was shaping into the form of a human, shaping into me. The light went from purple to white, it was the lightest shade of white possible, if you were to compare it with some paper, the paper would appear a dark grey, it was so pure, I almost felt like I was in a trance, and in a split second, the light faded, and right before me, stood an exact replica of me.

"Whoa... This is amazing! It's kind of creepy, but this is still amazing!"

The others giggled as they watched me, wide eyed, gazing at my clone.

"Sup?" The clone spoke.

I jumped back a good three feet and nearly shat a brick.

"You can talk?" I asked with awe.

"_**I can SING!**_" My clone shouted with his magnificent voice, a voice that was my own.

Every pony was on the floor crying with laughter, even Twilight smiled for a split second. I was taken aback by the clone talking, I knew Twilight could create physical clones, but I wasn't think that it would be fully functional.

"Alright, that's enough now, it was only a demonstration." Twilight started.

Her horn once again glowed purple, and the clone started to glow as well.

"This isn't fair," my clone shouted as parts of his body were being disintegrated, "why can't you-"

He could speak no more, as his body was evaporated into a purple wisp of smoke.

"He seemed like a charming fellow!" I laughed.

All the others laughed with me, before we all settled down and got back to business.

"Right," Applejack started, "how are we going to do this?"

"Well," I started, "I thought that we could simulate a break in, and that I was killed by the intruders, then there is a plausible excuse for my death."

"And how are we be able to do that? I can't just conjure up some thieves to break into your house." Twilight pompously asked.

I could tell that she was trying to find a flaw in my plan, as if she wanted to show me up.

"Well I'm glad you asked," I replied with a toothy grin, "it's simple, we break the front door down, and break a few things here and there and everywhere, and it'll look like someone's broken into the house."

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all looked at one another, then back to me.

"Sugar cube, is that necessary?" Applejack asked.

"But of course!" I replied, "it has to look real, doesn't it?"

"I suppose..."

I headed over to my wardrobe, and pulled out a huge rucksack, the biggest I could find. The rucksack was as big as my entire torso, and could hold enough food to last me a good few months if I needed to.

"What's that for darling?" Rarity asked.

"Supplies, for the journey." I answered.

"Hmm, touché." She replied.

Of all the things Rarity could have said, I wasn't expecting 'touché', it sounded so much like, well... Rarity!

It brought a smile to my face once again. These ponies had brought me true joy, besides Twilight's bitchy behaviour of course.

"When do you plan on trashing this place then?" Rainbow Dash asked.

That made me think, what did I need to take? And what about the dogs? I couldn't leave them here, I wanted the best for them. But who would look after them for me?  
That's when I thought hit me, I had a really close friend, Cameron Hamilton. He was one of my best friends, and would definitely look after the dogs, he was a Brony like myself, and was a huge lover of animals, Cameron was the closest thing possible to a human version of Fluttershy, he lived quite far away, but it was possible to get there...

"Today if we can, but first I have to do something..." I replied to pegasus.

"And what is this _something_ you have to do?" Twilight asked.

" I need to find somewhere for the dogs to stay, I have a friend who might look after them." I explained.

"No," the purple unicorn commanded, "we are not risking the mission for your mutts, let's just-"

"I'm sorry I don't think I heard that correctly," I interrupted, I was about to snap, she just crossed the line.  
"It's funny, it sounded like you just called my little Chilli puppy a mutt."

I glared deep into her eyes, into her soul, she shivered, Fluttershy's stare was nothing compared to this shit. Twilight's fear of this world might come in handy after all.

"N-Nothing... You can inform your friend, b-but you better know what you're doing..." She stuttered.

"Oh," I said, bursting into a big smile, "excellent! No problems then."

Applejack, who was behind Twilight, had her hoof in her mouth just to stop herself from laughing, she had seen my glare stare, and she found every second of it hilarious. I looked at Dashie, and she, like Applejack was in hysterics.

I picked up my rucksack, and headed to the door.

"Alright, I'm going to fill this thing with supplies, are you girls ok with being in here on your own for a bit?"

They all nodded, besides Twilight, who sat there glaring at me, she was clearly embarrassed and angry, and Dashie's giggling wasn't helping.

I headed downstairs and into the kitchen, the first place I searched was the cupboard, a perfect place to find food that would last for a long time.  
Luckily my mother had been shopping the other day, so I had a lot to choose from, I ended up grabbing a good twenty bags of salty crisps, very many sweets and chocolate, (mostly for Pinkie), two massive boxes of Wheatos, a bag of pasta, a truck load of Pot Noodle, and every tin of beans I could find. Although I hated beans with a passion, I would need them for protein, I guessed I wouldn't be eating meat for a while.

The things that I chose were good for energy, and would last for ages, things like fruit and other healthy things could be found along the journey. The problem on my mind was meat, even if I became a veggie, the six would find out one way or another, and when that happens, any kind of friendship that I've currently formed with the six will go straight out the window.

I let the thoughts blow away, I'd deal with those problems when they arrived, I needed to get my other supplies besides food, so I dashed around the house grabbing things I might need, sheets of paper, some pencils, my toothbrush along with toothpaste, my Swiss Army knife, phone and hone charger. I also grabbed a few rolls of toilet roll from the bathroom, going vegetarian was bad enough, I wasn't going to use leaves to wipe my ass if I could help it.

I headed back upstairs, now with enough supplies in my rucksack to last a good two months, I opened my door to find the six ponies chatting to one another, they all smiled as I walked in.

"So who's this friend of yours that we're going to meet?" Rarity piped up.

Before I could answer, Twilight jumped up.

"Meet? I said nothing about meeting him!" Her temper rose once more.

And for once, so did mine, she was annoying everyone in the room and I was at the end of my tether.

"That's quite funny Twilight, because I don't remember asking for your permission..."

She opened her mouth to speak, but I continued before she could utter a word.

"I've just about had enough of you and your attitude, don't you see that everyone in this room are sick and tired of your immature behaviour? I've tried my best to put it aside, but I'm not going to tolerate this much more, now listen well, because I'm only going to say it once. If you've got nothing nice to say, say nothing."

She clenched her teeth, she was about to go off on one again, her mouth once again opened, but once again I interrupted.

"Ah, is what you're about to say going to be nice?"

She raised her head and was about to scream at me, and I once _again,_ interrupted.

"I thought not, so shut up."

I turned my back to her, facing the other five, they were all trying to keep in their laughter, even Fluttershy was quietly giggling into her hoof, none of had the guts to stand up to Twilight when she was in a bad mood, so seeing me do so was eye candy to them.

"Following your question Rarity, his name is Cameron Hamilton he's an animal lover, like you Fluttershy."

The butter coloured pegasus jumped up when she heard her name.

"He loves animals? Wow, he sounds really nice, what animals does he have?" She excitedly asked.

"You can ask him in about ten minutes, I'm about to call him on Skype." I replied.

"What in tarnation is a Skype?" Applejack asked.

I knew that they'd know nothing about Skype, or any PC programs, but it felt nice to explain something that Miss Egghead Sparkle didn't know about.

"Well, Skype is an awesome little thing on this device of mine, that allows me to talk to anyone across the the world instantly."

Everypony was amazed, they had never been shown such technology.

"Across the _whole_ planet!" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Eeyup!" I replied with a huge grin.

I looked at Twilight, who was now back to her old canon self, eager to learn. About goddamn time...

I opened my laptop screen and hit the 'on' button, it instantly sprung to life, the screen lit up with the 'Acer, Empowering People' logo, I entered my password and went to my desktop, and instantly I had regretted it, as my desktop background was the Windows logo with Derpy Hooves sticking her head through it.

"Hey!" Dash shouted, "That's Derpy!"

I looked from pony to pony, to find them smiling and giggling, I had expected them to be horrified at seeing one of their friends on my computer screen.

"Yep, that's Derpy," I started, "but it's not the real Derpy, it's just a picture."

"Well, duh..." Twilight sarcastically commented.

I was now more confused than they were, I wasn't expecting this at all. Why weren't they freaking out at the picture of Derpy?

"Oh, I just thought you'd be shocked to Derpy on the screen." I said.

I was completely unsure of what was going on here, thankfully Rarity cleared the mist.

"Well dear, before we came here Princess Celestia explained to us about how we co-exist in your world through your, what's it called? Talvision?"

"Close," I corrected, "it's television, or just T.V. But I don't get it, I would have thought that you would all be freaked out by knowing that you're from a T.V show, what gives?"

"We were to start with," Rarity continued, "but the Princess explained everything, and she even used her magic to show us some of the show itself, and I must say, it is rather good."

I was astounded, I didn't expect Celestia to do such a thing, and how did she acquire a memory spell of the show?

"Might I ask where Celestia got the memory spell?" I asked.

"She didn't say, all she said was that it was something from a previous visit, why?"

"No reason." I replied.

A previous visit? That must have been the 'My Little Dashie' crisis, just thinking about it again made me shiver.

Now that I knew that the six were aware of the show, it made it a lot easier to use my computer without having to hide all the pony stuff, it would also make talking to Cameron less awkward for them. With that in mind, I clicked on Skype and waited for it to open.

"So what else did Celestia tell you about this place?" I asked.

"It's _Princess_ Celestia." Twilight snapped.

Well, Twilight's good mood didn't last long. Although, it was understandable that Twilight wanted the Princess's name to be spoken properly, as she was the ruler's prize student, but that wasn't going to stop me from teasing her.

"She didn't say very much," Rainbow Dash started, "all she said is that you know about us through that T.V, and that we'll need you to guide us as it might be dangerous."

"But I don't get it," I questioned while Skype made it's little popping noise to show that it's on, "Why me?"

The cyan mare shrugged, for she did not know the answer. By the looks of the others, nopony knew.

I went to my laptop and clicked on Cameron's profile, I then clicked on the message bar and began to type.

[Hey Middy! How are ya?]

The ponies stared at the screen in confusion.

"I'm not seeing anything..." Twilight moaned.

"_Wait _for it..." I replied.

[CALLUM! *glomps*] Was the hyperactive reply.

The other ponies were amazed.

"So, those words, just came from some dude in another part of the world?" Dashie asked in awe.

"That would be correct." I smiled back.

"What is a glomps?" Rarity asked.

"It's like a dive hug..." Fluttershy quietly answered before I could speak.

I wasn't quite sure how she knew about glomping, perhaps the word existed in Equestria? I'd figure it out another time, but for the time being I got back down to business with Cameron.

[Callum: Cam, can I ask a huge favour of you?]

[Cameron: Uh, what is it?]

[Callum: Can I call you? I have something to show you...]

[Cameron: What do you mean?]

[Callum: You wouldn't believe me if I told you...]

"Ok girls, I'm about to hit this button here," I pointed to the 'call' button, "and then he will be able to see you from here" I pointed to my webcam.

In a flash Twilight moved behind the computer, the others bunched up together ready to greet my friend, who was about to get the sight that every Brony has dreamed of.

'boop bop beep ba dip dop!' went Skype as I hit the 'call' button, it started ringing and in seconds Cameron's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey Callum, so what's this thing you wanted to show me?"

I chuckled, knowing what his reaction would be, I pushed a button on my webcam and we were now visible to him, and he instantly saw the bright colours of the ponies.

"Woah, Callum that's awesome! They look so life like! How'd you do that?"

I looked at my friend, and I started to smile, I started to laugh, I laughed for a while. I stood back from my computer and winked at the others.

"Hello Cameron!" They all shouted.

Cameron's smile went to a frown, he was trying to figure out how I had done this, and Pinkie made it even better, she went to the back of the laptop, and bent her head over the top so she appeared upside down to Cameron.

"Woo!" She yelled.

She then began to gently tap the screen rapidly.

"How did you get into that tiny little box?"

Applejack laughed and pulled her face off the screen.

"He's not IN the thing Pinkie, he's somewhere else, but you can see him through this box."

Cameron's face turned white, he was going through is what's known as mind rape, I sat back down at my laptop and quickly took a screenshot before it was too late.

"So Cam, what do you think?" I asked.

"Is it... Are, are they real? How is th-this possible?" He stuttered.

"Is that everyone's reaction to us?" Rainbow Dash asked.

I nodded, poor Cameron's mind must be full of screaming fuck nuggets at the moment.

"Alright Cameron, suck it in, they're real..." I laughed.

Cameron was shaking he was so excited, I knew exactly what he was going through, I had only just gotten over the feeling myself. The feeling of true joy, to know that Equestria actually exists.

"H-How is this p-possible?" He stuttered again.

I looked at Rarity, and she gave me a look that said 'do I really have to explain it again?', I nodded and got up from my laptop so the white mare could face the screen, and with that she started to explain everything to Cameron. I walked over to Twilight, and whispered into her ear.

"Don't you wanna say hello?"

She glared at me, so I glared back. That was when she growled at me.

"Geez, temper, temper..." I pulled the 'Watch out, we got a badass over here' face.

"And here I was thinking Twilight was actually nice..."

At that, she gritted her teeth, I could see the anger in her eyes. But then I noticed something, something that completely changed my view on Twilight. Through the anger, I saw terror, not just fear, but sheer terror. She wasn't being a bitch for no reason, she was genuinely terrified.  
What she said earlier in the spare room, she wasn't just overreacting, this was serious. I had to find out what Celestia told her, I simply _had_ to, otherwise she's going to be like this for the whole journey...

By the time I had thought this over, Rarity had finished informing Cameron about the orb, Pinkie had her face pressed up to the screen, giggling away, and all I could hear was Cameron's laughs of true delight. Upon hearing all the laughs and giggles, I walked over to my computer, Pinkie was giggling so much she was snorting, I couldn't help but laugh myself.

"So, Cameron. Now that you know about the plan, I was wondering if you could do a little favour for me..."

As I said this, he tilted his head on one side, like a confused dog.

"What kind of favour?"

"You know that you look after animals and stuff?" I asked.

I saw the corners of his cheeks rise, as he knew what I was going to ask. The more he thought about it, the more he grinned.

"Yes?"

I smiled, he knew _exactly_ what I was going to ask him, he just wanted to hear me say it.

"As I'm leaving home, do you think it's possible that you could care for my dogs?"

He leapt out of his chair in delight, almost head butting the screen.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh... _YEEEAAAAHH!_" He yelled.

The ponies around me giggled, finding Cameron's hyperactivity amusing, if you mixed Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and a human together, Cameron would be the final product.

"I can't come to you, so you'll have to come to me, is that alright?" He asked, still buzzing from the whole experience he was going though, he couldn't stop laughing with joy and giddiness.

"Yeah, that's perfectly fine Cameron, just give me one minute to confer with my colleagues here." I replied. I left him to chuckle away as I turned to the ponies, who were also giggling because of my little quote, even though they had no idea what it was from.

"Is there a way of magically travelling long distances really quickly?" I asked.

Rarity looked up from admiring her shiny, polished hooves.

"Well, now that you mention it, Twilight has a mass teleportation spell. But there are two flaws, it's not very accurate, and could land you a good few miles from where you want to be, plus, it takes ten days to re-charge..."

Twilight instantly started shaking her head and started mouthing the word no.

"Is there a way of making it more accurate?" I asked, completely ignoring Twilight.

"Well," Rarity continued, "it can be more accurate if there is less mass to teleport. So if you were to just teleport yourself, you'd be quite on target, but if you teleport five or more at once, you'll end up miles off."

"No teleporting, we could end up in a crowd of humans, we'll get found, then who knows what would happen to us, we could get taken away, and tested on!" Twilight burst out.

At that, I saw Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"I thought egg-heads were smart, can't you just teleport us with an invisibility spell?"

{Owned.} I thought to myself.

"Ugh, fine!" Twilight moaned, "But not _all_ of us are going."

"Is there a problem?" Cameron asked, still waiting on Skype.

All seven of us turned our head to look at him in sync, making him giggle.

"We're just discussing how we are going to get to you." I replied.

"Oh, ok then!"

He went back to doing other things on his computer while he waited, keeping Skype in the top corner so he could still see us, grinning like a monkey while he did so.

"So how are we going to get there?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Not _all_ of us have to go, I could just send Callum and the dogs without us going." Twilight suggested.

"Good thinking Twilight," Dashie retorted, "just split up the group from our guide why don't you..."

Rarity cleared her throat as if to silence the others.

"I do believe that you are forgetting that there are two unicorns here. Why doesn't Twilight send me, Callum and the dogs, then I can teleport the two of us back here?"

From here I made a mental note, that Rarity would be the group thinker.

"Nice thinking Rarity!" I praised.

We all turned back to the PC, besides Twilight, who was well out of view.

"Well, thanks to Rarity, we've come up with a plan to get to yours." I happily informed Cameron.

With this, he squeaked with delight.

"Awesome! So when will I be expecting you?" He asked.

I looked at the others, to be honest, I was perfectly ready to go now if I could, now that I knew the dogs would be safe, I was ready to leave this hell hole without a second thought.

"When we finish trashing this place, we could head off right away. What do you girls think?" I asked.

"No objection here." Rainbow Dash muttered.

"Ah'm all up for it." Applejack followed.

The others all nodded in agreement. I turned around back to Cameron.

"How's this afternoon?" I asked.

He once again went into shock.

"_This_ afternoon? As is, this afternoon, this afternoon?" He said.

It was amusing that he'd just quoted the show, without even realising it, and even funnier that he seriously meant the question, and not just quoting for the sake of it.

"Sure, as soon as we finish a few things here, we'll teleport over there." I replied.

At this, Cameron literally jumped out of his chair.

"Tel-Tel-_Teleport!?_"

The others chuckled, besides Twilight, who seemed rather curious at his reaction.

"Twi, magic doesn't exist here, so teleportation is un imaginable here." I explained.

She blinked to show that she understood, but remained silent.

"Well, we better get busy, we'll see you tomorrow Cam." I said.

"Ok, alright, I... Um... Better clean up this place, where to begin, uh, ah! Dog food, baskets..." He trailed off.

"Bye!" I smiled.

"Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!" Pinkie excitedly started poking the screen with her nose.

I clicked the 'hang up' button on Skype, leaving my overjoyed friend to roar with laughter.

"Well, that was Cameron." I said.

The others giggled a bit, before settling down so we could get to business.

"So, what happens now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Now?" I replied with the biggest grin ever, going over to the corner of my room to grab my cricket bat...

"_LET'S ROCK THIS JOINT!_"


End file.
